Father and Son
by PirateFairy
Summary: Post HBP: To get Malfoy kicked out by Voldemort, McGonagall tricks him into a love affair with a muggle girl. Hermione's older sister Helena agrees to play the part. But what happens when Helena actually starts to like him? And what when she meets his father? Thrown into the wizarding world the age differences aren't Helena's only problems...
1. Chapter 1

Father and Son

Chapter One  
Eighteen again

The moment I switched my mobile back on it started ringing.  
"Hello?"  
"Finally! I've been trying to get you allday!"  
"Hermione!" I said smiling. "How are you? Aren't you in school?"  
"I am. Well, not tright now, because phones don't work in Hogwarts, but generally I'm in school. I need to talk to you."  
"Why? What happened?" I asked concerned about how serious she sounded.  
"I can't tell you on the phone. I don't think they're watching the muggle phone networks, but still... can I come over to your place tonight?"  
"What? Yeah, sure! It's been ages since you came to see me."  
"What time will you be home at?"  
"Well, I've got to work until five and after that I've got my Flamenco class... I should be home by half seven. Continental time."  
"Okay. I'll be there."  
"Great. I don't suppose I have to pick you up from the airport?"  
"No", said Hermione and I could tell from the sound of her voice that she was smiling, "I'll be apparating."  
"Do you need a fireplace for that? Because we don't have any."  
"No", said Hermione again, "I'll be fine. I'll see you later."

I put my phone down into my bag and decided to get a cup of coffee before starting my work. I was in University and had had courses all morning. I did Archaeology and would be spending the afternoon taking photos of broken bits of pottery and tiny fragments of metal. It was boring, but not as boring as the actual drawing would be, which I would have to do afterwards. That was my job in University. It might have been interested if my boss, Professor Schneemann, had ever worked on something interesting. But he didn't and I got to draw the ugliest, most boring little bits ever dug up from the earth. It wasn't too bad though, because we were a very small department and worked very well together. And today I had Hermione's visit to look forward to!  
I met Professor Schneemann by the coffee machine. I gave him a wide smile and said, "Hallo Herr Schneemann!"  
"Hallo, Frau Granger!" he said returning my smile. Professor Schneemann is rather young for a professor and very hadnsome. Difficult personality of course, and the only one who doesn't really fit into the team. He's been with us for nearly two years now and doesn't seem to like anybody. Which is why I am always smiling and friendly with him. I'm determined to turn him into a nice person.  
"You're looking very happy today", he said and took the coffeepot.  
"I am. My little sister is coming to see me today! Thankyou."  
He filled my cup and asked,  
"How old is she?"  
"Seventeen."  
"You don't see your family very often, do you?"  
"No."  
"Well, have a good time with your sister then."  
And with another smile he went back to his office and I returned to my camera and scrap metal.

I was a bit late after my Flamenco in the evening and hurried up the stairs to my flat, hoping to be able to do a bit of rough cleaning before Hermione arrived. But I was just locking the door open when ith a soft POP she just appeared out of thin air next to me.  
"Gosh, Hermione!" I screamed and dropped my bags, because I have never seen her do that before and got the shock of a life time.  
"I'm sorry, Helena, I didn't mean to give you a fright..." Hermione said and looked at me worried. I started laughing and pulled her into a tight hug. Then we went inside. I dropped my bags into my room and then we went into the kitchen to make some tea.  
"So, how are you?" I said and stuck the kettle on. "Let me look at you... jeeney, Hermione, you're so... grown up!"  
She sat smiling at my kitchen table, wearing jeans and pretty woolly jumper in green. Her hair was shorter than it had been when I saw her the last time and curling nicely around her face.  
"I'm of age now." she said. "In the wizarding world. So I AM grown up."  
"You'll always be my little sister, I'm sorry. It's been too long since I saw you, lovely. I keep forgetting you're not five anymore."  
Hermione laughed.  
"And how are you?"  
"I'm good", I said, pouring the tea.  
"How's university?"  
"Boring?"  
"How's your job?"  
"Boring?"  
"How's your dancing?"  
"Brilliant!"  
"God, I'm glad you said that!"  
Laughing we went back to my room. Holding her mug Hermione walked around my room. I stuffed my Flamenco and Ballett gear into my wardrobe and shifted the clothes on my bed onto the floor so we could sit on my bed. Hermione was leaning over the piles of books on my desk to look at the photos that I had put up on the wall.  
"Who's that?" she asked, pointing at a photo showing me and Espen.  
"A friend of mine. We do Scandinavian Studies tiogether", I explained, hoping to sound casual.  
"He's very handsome." That picture was taken on his birthday, just a shot, we had our heads together and were laughing about something.  
"He is."  
"Do you like him?"  
"He's too young for me."  
"How old is he?"  
"Twenty-two."  
"Hm."  
Hermione took a seat on the bed, sitting across from me, facing me.  
"Helena, are you going out with anyone?"  
"No", I said. "Sadly enough I'm not."  
"But you like that twenty-two year old bloke, don't you?"  
"I do, but he's got a girlfriend."  
"And there's nobody else you'd like?"  
For a fleeting instant I thought of Professor Schneemann, but he was married. And I didn't need to lie to myself, I just simply didn't have a love-life.  
"No."  
"So you wouldn't be missing anyone, if you, say, went on a journey for a while?"  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Well, I told you on the phone that I need to talk to you. The thing is, we might be needing your help."  
"My help? With what?"  
"You remember my friend Harry?"

I did. Once I had come along to that crazy street in London, where Hermione bought her school things. That was years ago. She was thirteen then, or maybe not, maybe she wasn't even thirteen then. I was nineteen, so she would have been nearly thirteen. Hermione's birthday is in September and mine's in December. We never got to spend a really huge amount of time together, Hermione and I. I was six when she was born and she was a tiny baby. Then I went to boarding school and only saw her in my holidays. And then she got a letter when I was leaving school that she was a witch! And she went off to witch school and I left England. I was really really jealous. She was my little sister and somehow you can't be jealous at your little sister, at least not when you love her so much as I love Hermione, but I would just have loved to be able to do magic... So compared to the witch in the family I didn't feel particularly special. I tried to do something special in my life and travelled a lot. I lived in Ireland for more than a year and then I went to Sweden. After that I worked in France for a while. And there I met a german man, fell in love with him and followed him to Germany. But as these things happen we couldn't stand being around each other anymore after three years. Sadly by the time we broke up I had entered University and was quite advanced in my studies. It would have been stupid to not finish them and even though I wasn't very enthusiastic about my degree and would have loved to see a new country, I stayed in Germany.  
I never saw Hermione do much magic though, because even though I always made sure I would go and see mum and dad while Hermione was there, she was not allowed use magic out of school. But this one time she took me along into Diagon Alley and that's when I saw her wave her wand and buy all sorts of weird things and met her friends. It was a brilliant day, and it was fabulous to get a glimpse of the world that my little sister lived in.  
I remembered that boy, Harry. Crazy hair and dazzling eyes. And the other kid, the red head. Taller than Hermione and Harry.

"I do, yeah. And your other friend. Ron?"  
"Yeah. Well, he's actually my boyfirend now."  
"Go away!"  
Hermione blushed slightly.  
"Anyway, you remember what I told you about Voldemort, the wizard who killed Harry's parents?"  
"Yes. You said he came back. Last year. No, the year before."  
"That's right. He is back and he's killing and he's getting stronger. He's getting more and more allies."  
"But why does he not kill us? I mean us non-witches? After all we're the one he despises, aren't we?"  
"He does. Only you are not being told. All those terrorist bombings? That's him."  
"What?"  
"Yeah. And that's not all of it. But the thing is, we can stop him. Harry can."  
I emptied my mug and put it down onto the floor next to my bed.  
"How?" asked I and took of my skirt and my tights to put on something more comfortable.  
"I can't tell you", Hermione looked at me apologetically, "but we're working on it. Harry is the only who one who can actually defeat Voldemort one day, but there's loads of other things that need to be done. Do you remember Draco Malfoy?"  
"Isn't he in your year? The guy who was always bullying you because mum and dad are non-magic? The one you hate so much?"  
"I don't HATE him..."  
"It's okay, Hermione. You don't have to like everybody and be kind and friendly. Sometimes people are just pricks."  
Hermione laughed.  
"That's the one. But you have met him once, remember?"  
I thought hard.  
"Oh, the blond kid?"  
"Yeah. We met him in Diagon Alley, four years ago."  
"He didn't seem like a bully though", I mused, remembering the boy who had just stared at me. Hermione laughed again.  
"Yeah, that's because he just gazed at you. He was absolutely spellbound by you."  
"The attraction of a young man to an older woman." I joked.  
"It's the only time I remember him keeping his mouth shut, when he would have had an opportunity to sneer. But anyway. He's joined Voldemort."  
"What?" That kid?  
"Yeah. He poisoned Ron last year and because of him Dumbledore died four months ago."  
"What? Your headmaster?"  
What kind of a world did my sister live in?  
"Yeah. Listen Helean, it's complicated... there's a war going on in the wizarding world, and Malfoy is on the other hand. Professor McGionagall however seems to believe it possible that it's not too late for him yet. He's still at Hogwarts, pretending to have abandoned Voldemort, but we think he's spying on us."  
"He's only a boy."  
"His father was released from Azkaban in summer. The wizard prison. Even though everyone knows he's a Death Eater. He always gets away with everything."  
"What's a Death Eater?"  
"One of Voldemort's followers. And now that his father's back it's only a matter of time until Malfoy becomes a Death Eater as well. You see, McGonagall for some reason wants Malfoy to join our side. And she thinks he hasn't got the Dark Mark yet... meaning he hasn't become a full Death Eater yet. She thinks if we can manage the other side to mistrust Malfoy and chuck him out, then he'll be forced to join our side. I don't know why it's so important for her to have Malfoy of all people on our side, but she has her reasons no doubt. And she's right. If Voldemort and the other Death Eaters kick him out, he has no other place to go but our side."  
"So your plan is to spread a few rumours and lies and make him lose his reputation with the Death Eaters. How are you going to do that?"  
"That's where you come in. We need you to break his heart."  
"What?" I snorted with laughter. Hermione smiled.  
"Yeah. We'll fake a random meeting between you and him and you have to make him like you. So the rumour can spread that Draco Malfoy has a soft spot for a Muggle girl. If you agree to help us with this, Helena, you might even fake you like him too and get together with him – only pretence, of course – just for a while. The Death eaters are bound to kick him out then, they'd consider him a blood traitor."  
"You're being serious?"  
They were witches and wizards, they could do magic and had all sorts of powers and this was the plan they came up with?  
"I am."  
"But why me?"  
"Because we need a muggle girl. And you know all about our world and you're my sister, so it would be easy to stage a meeting, you're perfect for the part."  
"But I'm much too old! Why should he fall for a twenty-four year old muggle girl?"  
"You're twenty-three!"  
"I'll be twenty-four in six weeks."  
"We'll give you a potion so you'll be eighteen again. Well, your body will, you will remain the same person only your body will be eighteen again."  
"That doesn't sound bad actually."  
"You'll be totally convincing. You're smarter than the average eighteen year old, obviously, but you're not old and boring as other twenty-four year olds, you're the perfect one to play the part."  
"But why do you think it's going to work? If I do it, why should he like me?"  
"Because you're absolutely irresistable, Helena!" Hermione laughed at the expression in my face. "Malfoy even saw that in you fouur years ago. You are so sweet and charming and beautiful, you can make everybody fall in love with you!"  
"I'm not so sure... You know I'm very insecure."  
Hermione smiled.  
"I know. But you know that you're only insecure when it comes to men that you really like. And trust me you won't like Malfoy. He'll be like wax in your hands."  
I was still sceptical. Hermione sudenly became very serious.  
"Please, Helena! I know it is a lot to ask, but it is incredibly important."  
Well... I wouldn't mind leaving Germany... going back to the UK... I have been stuck in this country far too long anyway...  
"I'll do it!"


	2. Chapter 2: Saying Goodbye to my old Life

Here is the new chapter! I hope you like it! Please let me know xxx Enjoy!

2- Saying Goodby To My Old Life

The next day I was back in University. Hermione hadn't stayed much longer after I had said I agreed. She said she would go and get everything ready and I didn't have to take care of anything. Somehow that was scary. She told me they would put memory charms on my flatmates, my friends and my colleagues from university so they would think it had been arranged for a long time that I should go and spend a few months at a different University, so they wouldn't wonder where I had gone all of a sudden. She told me they would also change the official data back home in the muggle ministery of the UK, so my birthday would be adjusted to me being eighteen again. She said if I appeared in the magical world the dark side was bound to check up on me. I didn't know everything they had to set up so I just accepted it when she told me she would come back the next evening to take me to a place called The Burrow.

So that left me only one day to say my goodbyes to my friends and my old life. It was a really weird feeling. I thought about it all through a course about the British Iron Age. I wasn't sorry to give all of this a break for a while. I would miss my dance classes but I wouldn't miss my work, my studies and there was no man anywhere around that would miss me, so i was feeling quite adventurous to set out into the wizarding world. Hihi. How cool was that?  
One of my friends was presenting the status of the work she was doing and I watched Professor Schneemann nearly killing her afterwards. He told her plainly her work was rubbish, her presentation had been pathetic and she would do better to find a man she could marry soon. Tabea was nearly crying. I didn't understand Professor Schneemann. What a horrible person. I mean even if he thought she hadn't done a great job he could have told her differently, couldn't he? He was really evil sometimes, and for a fleeting moment, influenced by everything I had heard last night, I wondered if he maybe was a Death Eater in disguise who just enjoyed hurting and humiliating muggle students.

I went for lunch with Espen and after that I was left to drawing the metall fragments that I had photographed yesterday. Not too eager to get back into Uni we went for a cup of coffee to a very nice café with very cozy couches and low tables where you could just chill out like nowhere else.  
"Are you alright? asked Espen puting his head to one side and giving me a long look. I couldn't help thinking how handsome he was. He came over and stood behind my chair then. I took a deep breath and he started masaging my neck. He's done that a few times and everytime it was amazing. There was never anything going on between him and me but I swear there was something to the way he touched me those rare times when he gave me massages. I was ready to melt away.  
"So you're leaving tonight, is it?"  
"Yes", I said with my eyes closed.  
"When are you coming back?"  
"I don't know", which was perfectly true.  
"But you are coming back, aren't you?"  
"Sure", I said sighing inwardly. I knew he didn't ask me when would I come back because it meant anything. He wouldn't probably even particularly miss me. I had learnt the hard way that he wasn't interested in me like that.

After giving Espen a hug to say goodbye I returned to University musing. That was it. I wouldn't see him until... who knew? I didn't feel like doing those drawings at all, and therefore I took to walking through the library to pretend I was really busy tyding up the bookshelves, putting books back into their right places. That wasn't my job at all but I did it sometimes when I just couldn't stand drawing another plate or jar or something like that.  
I was doing the lowest shelf when Herr Schneemann walked in.  
"Frau Granger?" he said and I turned around to him without getting up. It was one of the first days of October and still very warm and so I was wearing jeans, flip-flops and three tops with spaghetti straps, one over the other. I looked up at him. He was standing there in his dark grey trousers and a white shirt. He had taken off the jacket of the suit and he looked down at me. He was in his forty-two and looking very well dressed as was appropriate for a man in his position. I was twenty-three and showing a lot of skin on the arms and the neckline. I could tell he thought I wasn't dressed appropriately (I was after all an employee in an academic institution) but didn't say anything because he liked looking at me.  
"Yes?"  
"Are you finished with the sherds from box 24?"  
"Well, I've photographed them all, but haven't finished drawing them yet. Do you need them today?"  
"Well, no, not necessarily today, but as you won't be coming in anymore from tomorrow onwards I would like you to get as much done as possible. I don't know how soon we'll be able replace you."  
Then he smiled and started flirting.  
"Ah, Frau Granger, of course we'll be never able to REPLACE you, but we'll need to find someone to do your work."  
I returned the smile in a way that told him that I was well aware of his flirting and didn't object to it.  
"I'll just finish this shelf and then I'll get back to drawing."  
With that I turned back to the shelf, knowing that he was staring now at the bit of skin showing on my back between the tops and the jeans. Men. They were so simple sometimes. I had not been lying to Hermione last night though. If I really liked this man I could never have been that self-confident. I was very insecure when I was around Espen, even though I knew for a fact there was nothing to lose, because he had never wanted me in the first place. I enjoyed flirting with Herr Schneemann, but I didn't actually like him, and that made all the difference. So maybe their plan might work. Maybe I was the right choice to make that poor Malfoy boy fall for a Muggle girl after all.

After what would be my last Ballett Class for I didn't know how long I went home and packed a few things. Then Hermione literally popped up and with a firm grip on my arm she took me to The Burrow. It was the most uncomfortable feeling ever and I felt slightly sqeezed when we appeared in a living room that was stuffed with all sorts of things and a whole bunch of people that looked very weird to me. A short woman with shining red hair gave me a smile and said: "Welcome to The Burrow, Helena!"  
"This is Mrs. Weasley", explained Hermione and I thanked Mrs. Weasley. "You remember Ron?"  
A young man with the same shock of red hair as his mother's shook my hand smiling.  
"Blimey, you've grown", I blurted out. I have always been tall for a woman, but this young man was a good foot taller than me. Well, he was not the kid anymore that I had met in Diagon Alley four years ago, so I guess I should have expected that.  
Hermione introduced me to Rons father who seemed delighted to have a genuine muggle in his house, Harry Potter, who was four years older then the boy I remembered from Diagon Alley as well, and her headmistress,Professor McGonagall, a stern looking, elderly witch.  
Professor McGonagall explained to me what was going to happen. First I was to drink a potion she had brought so my body would be eighteen again and after that she would work a piece of magic on me so I wouldn't be able to tell anyone that I was actually older. I didn't know why that was necessary, but she didn't explain. Instead she handed me a small bottle with a sparkling yellow liquid in it. I uncorked the bottle and sniffed it. It smelled like lemonade.  
"This is a very strong, very complex potion", McGonagall explained. "You will need to drink it regularly once a week. If you stop drinking it, your body will age in the course of a few days until it has caught up with it's natural age. It is perfectly harmless, but you need to make sure you take it regularly, not necessarily by the hour, but today being Friday, I suggest you just make a habit of drinking it every Friday night."  
"Yeah", I couldn't stop myself from saying, "I don't want to look eighteen on Friday evening and waking up on Saturday with a 23 year old looking back at me from the mirror, at least not without a mad party to blame it on."  
Harry and Ron grinned, but McGonagall didn't seem impressed at all. She gave me a look that made me decide immediately to keep my mouth shut from now on.  
"I just informed you, Miss Granger, it takes more than one night for the effects of the potion to wear off."  
"I know. I was only messing. I'm sorry."  
I drank the potion and waited. Everybody looked at me expectantly. Than they all smiled.  
"Brilliant!" said Ron and Hermione smiled.  
"You look just like you did five years ago."  
I looked around for a mirror and Mrs. Weasley handed me one.  
"Wow!" I said delighted. "Look at me! I'm young! God, I never appreciated how pretty I was!"  
It was only six years, you're not old with twenty-three, but my skin was better, my legs were firmer and all without doing any exercise. If I was a witch, I would sell that potion and make a living out of it.  
Prof. McGonagall gave me another stern look.  
"Miss Granger", she said, "do you understand your task?"  
I realised she wasn't impressed with me again. I looked around and saw the tension on everybody's faces.  
"I do", I said solemnly, "I'm sorry if I seem not to take this seriously. Hermione has informed me about the situation and I understand the charakter of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I assure you I do not underestimate what is at stake. I am just, unlike all of you, not used to it, yet, I haven't lived with it every day for the last two years. I only heard of it last night, so I might come off as being unconcerned. But I'm not, I am indeed taking this seriously."  
"Some speech", I heard Ron mutter, but McGonagall gave me a smile.  
"Good." she said. And then she explained to me, that this Malfoy boy apparantly had been trained to do Occulomy... Occlisems... something and that they didn't know if he also could do Lemillige... Gillyleg... Legillymelly... something else. I think what they meant is, they weren't sure he couldn't read my mind. And therefore they cast this spell, which would keep me from saying out loud that it was all staged, that I was supposed to make him fall in love with me so the Death Eaters would chuck him out and from telling anyone my real age. And apparantly thus he couldn't read it in my thoughts either. McGonagall was now the only one who could tell anyone my real age. I didn't believe it until she asked me what my real age was and I opend my mouth to answer "twenty-three", but I couldn't do it.  
"So we just agree on you being eighteen and a half. Your data in the muggle ministery have been modified and you will be nineteen on the first of June."  
I nodded.  
"I suggest we return to the school then." said McGonagall and stepped up to the fireplace.  
What now? I thought. I remember Hermione telling me about travelling through fireplaces but I hadn't expected to do it myself one day...  
It was much nicer than apparating though. Once we had all arrived in McGonagall's office Hermione, Harry and Ron took me to the Gryffindor common room. It was too late to show me the school tonight, but I had a good time sitting in a comfortable sofa watching those students practise spells, shouting at chessmen who shouted back, catching chocolate frogs who were trying to escape and all other sorts of magical things that nobody seemed to find particularly extraordinary except for me. Hermione told everybody who asked that I was her older sister, that I had just finished muggle school and that I was here as part of a work experience programme from the muggle ministery. Nobody seemed to care much really, what I was doing in their school though, which was a good thing, because our rather story was rather far-fetched and we were quite happy nobody asked many questions.

We sat by the fire place with Ron's younger sister Ginny who seemed to be filled in on why I was really there.  
"Here's a plan", she said in a low voice, "we take you into Hogsmeade with us tomorrow and then we'll make sure we lose you. So you can just walk up to Malfoy and ask him would he show you how to get back to the castle. If you can convince him to walk you back, you'll have a nice long walk together. What do you think about that?"  
"I don't know", said Ron. "I can't see him just agreeing to walking a muggle back into Hogwarts, especially Hermione's sister!"  
"You wait and see", said Hermione smiling, "he was absolutely smitten when he saw her in Diagon Alley four years ago. I'm sure you'll be able to persuade him, Helena."  
"Won't he remember me? Won't he think it's odd I look even younger now than I did four years ago?"  
"Ah well, "said Hermione, "maybe he doesn't remember ever meeting you before at all. Maybe he'll just be smitten by you again. Or maybe he does remember you but doesn't remember exactly what you looked like. Or maybe you just tell him you were only fifteen when he saw you and that's it."  
"Or maybe", I said, "there are a bit many maybes in this plan."  
"Don't worry about it", said Hermione totally confident in my abilities. "He won't be able to resist you. You'll see that tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting the Enemy

Hello Everybody, here we are and the story really begins: Helena arrives in the magical world...

Please tell all your friends about my story, I'd love to know that there are people actually reading this. Thank you to all who have already liked this story, I'd love you if you wrote me a review xxx And now enjoy!

Chapter Three  
Meeting The Enemy

So here we were. Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny took me to Hogsmeade. It turned out to be a really beautiful village that for me literally was out of this world. It was like time had stopped there and I would have happily spent the whole day watching all the witches and wizards. Hermione and Harry thought it wise to wait for a while so chances Draco Malfoy would actually walk me back to Hogwarts were better. They took me to a really nice pub where I had the nicest drink called Butterbeer and smiling watched Hermione smiling watching Ron who was trying not to watch the barmaid. It turned out Ginny was Harry's girlfriend. Though Hemione explained they had broken up and then got back together again they seemed to be really close and I couldn't see how those two could not be together.  
"Oh brilliant", said Hermione suddenly and we all turned our heads to see what she was looking at. A tall boy with what looked like a white golden helmet on his head had just entered the pub, acompanied by two mean looking boys and a girl.  
"So that's him", said Hermione, "all we have to do is wait until they leave and then you can just follow him and ask him to help you back to the school."  
So that was my prey.  
I couldn't see him properly, because there were just so many people in the pub. They got a table and sat down and all I could see of him was his hair. Well that was enough, I would recognise him by that. Very unusual colour that was, the closest I came to see anything like it before was the hair of some very young children in Sweden.  
After an hour or so they left and Hermione nudged me in the rips.  
"It's okay, Hermione" I hissed, "relax! I'm off! I'll see you later."  
"Good luck", said the others and I made my way through the people and out onto the street.  
It was another warm day and very bright outside. I was wearing a very plain summer dress with a bit of beady flowery embroydery at the hem, but everybody looked at me. Apparantly I was the weirdo here. Well fair enough, I was ready to start my muggle attack.  
I spotted Draco Malfoy looking into a window just a few shops down the road and walked up to him.  
"Hello." I said brightly. He turned and looked at me and I was surprised to see he was rather good looking. He had the most intriguing eyes, of a very pale grey. Like smoke. He was a bit taller than me. Not much, just a few inches.  
"I'm sorry", I said faking a note of helplessness in my voice, "I'm lost, could you help me maybe?"  
I noticed the girl look up and down my dress and thought she might be his girlfriend. She gave me that kind of look when you want to check out you're better looking than the intruder, in this case me. Maybe it wasn't that warm anymore that I needed to wear a summer dress, but hey, I had my eighteen year old body back, I was going to show it as long as I had it! Because when I was eighteen I was very insecure and thought my legs were horrible. I kind of hid in my clothes then. Now with the security and self confidence of a twenty-three year old I would enjoy my eighteen year old body and this girl could frown at me as long as she wanted to.  
"You're not from here, are you?" he asked.  
"No", I said, "I'm not from here at all. I am visiting my sister up in the school and she took me here but somehow we got seperated. Can you tell me how to get back to Hogwarts?"  
He gave me a very interesting look, not really rude but clearly trying to make up his mind what to think of me. Maybe he did remember my face vaguely and didn't know where to put me.  
"Are you a witch?"  
"No", I said still smiling.  
"Who's your sister?"  
"Gosh, that's a lot of questions!" I laughed. "Hermione Granger, do you know her?"  
"Hermione Granger", he repeated and I saw the same look on the boys' faces that I had seen on the girls face. Maybe it wasn't about competition at all.  
"That mudblood!" exclaimed the girl and I understood. They looked at me like that because I was a muggle. I should have expected that after all.  
"Pansy!" said Draco Malfoy sharply. "Yes I know her", he said then. "She's in my year."  
"Oh", I said, faking to be absolutely unaware of the enmity around me and in his voice and pretending there was nothing more delightful than meeting a classmate of my little sister, "nice to meet you then! I'm Helena!"  
I held out my hand and after the shortest hesitation he shook it.  
"My name is Draco Malfoy."  
He looked at me as if expecting a reaction and I smiled.  
"Oh I remember you! Hermione took me along to Diagon Alley once and I saw you there. I can't remember if we were introduced though..."  
"That's how I know your face!" said he nodding. "No, we wouldn't have been, Hermione and I don't hang out much."  
His two sidekicks looked very confused and the girl outraged. He ignored them and said:  
"Well, Helena, to get back to the school you need to follow down this street until you come to Zonko's and then take a left. Then there's a little alleyway on the left, right behind Honeyduke's..."  
"Hang on, that's too quick", I interrupted. "Down the street to Bonko's and take a left into an alleyway on the right..."  
"No, down to ZONKO'S and then to the left into an alleyway on the RIGHT... you know what, I'll take you. If you've never been to Hogsmeade before it's easy to get lost."  
"Draco!" the Pansy-girl nearly shrieked. He gave her a stern look and she fell silent.  
"I'll see you later in the common room." he said to the two boys and without sparing them a second glance he gave me a smile and we set off down the street. I had him walk me back to the school. So far so good.  
"So, Helena", he said converstionally, "how d'you like Hogwarts?"  
"Oh I haven't seen much of it yet, I only arrived last night."  
"And how long will you be staying?"  
"I don't know, a couple of days?"  
"Hermione must be happy to have you over. It's very unsual to have your siblings visit you. Is there a special reason for your visit?"  
Ah! I had been wondering. He had been very co-operative. Apparantly he thought he could make me tell him what Hermione's side was doing if he was nice to me.  
"No, none at all. God, I'm going blind!"  
I had looked into the windows of the shops we were passing and there was now a sort of café where everything from the tables to the chairs to the wallpaper seemed to be pink.  
Draco turned his head to see what I was referring to and gave a short laugh.  
"I never liked pink, but I mean one should seriously leave that phase behind once you've reached the age of twelve, shouldn't you?"  
He smiled and we continued down the street to Zonko's and then turned to the left.  
"So how come you're not in school?" he asked.  
"I've finished school" I said.  
"Oh have you. How old are you?"  
"Eighteen." I loved saying that. "And you?"  
"Seventeen?"  
"Oh really? I thought you were older than me." I thought he was still young enough to be flatterned by that and he did indeed smile rather smugly.  
"So what do you do now?"  
"Well", I said. I didn't have a clue what to tell him."I am... kind of in between... I am hoping to get a job in the ministery. In OUR ministery that is. I have been to an interview, but I haven't heard from them yet." I really hoped he could not do Leggymens because I was just making this up as I went along. I decided to retunr onto safer ground.  
"I have been travelling since I left school."  
"Oh yeah? Where have you been?"  
"I've been jobbing in Germany."  
"Is it nice there?"  
"Yeah it's ok."  
We were now leaving the last houses of Hogwarts behind us and walked down a country lane between hedgerows and meadows and trees that were now turning golden.  
"Oh wow" I said stopping. "Look at this!"  
Draco looked around.  
"What?"  
"It's beautiful!"  
I could see the castle towering over a huge lake and I thought it was absolutely beautiful.  
"I lived in a grey concrete city in Gemany. Very depressing. I haven't seen anything like this in ages." I looked around. "Autumn's coming." I gave him a smile. "It's so peaceful."  
We walked on. There were still many blackberries in the hedge and I started picking them to walk slower and have more time with him.  
"So what's it like to live in a castle then?"  
He grinned.  
"It's good. If Hermione's not back I can show you around when we get back."  
"That would be great! I wouldn't be surprised if she was though. She is probably going mad with worries about me. She's so sweet."  
Malfoy didn't say anything.  
"It's really nice of you to offer, though. I wouldn't get anywhere on my own. The castle is huge."  
"It is."  
Gosh, what the heck was I supposed to talk to him about? How was I ever going to get him interested in me? Talking about the countryside and how sweet my sister is, whom he hates... look at me, I'm boring!  
"What's the food like?"  
"Very good usually. The house-elfs are putting every efford into it."  
"House elfs?"  
"Yeah. They cook the food. And the do the washing up and the cleaning..."  
"That's handy!" I said thinking of the my flat in Gemany. Neither me nor my flatmates felt much like doing the washing up often. "Can I get one too? And take him home with me? Gosh, my parents, they'd love one!"  
Draco gave me a smirk.  
"You're very different from your sister", he said.  
"Am I? Why?"  
"She would never have said she wanted a house elf. A couple of years ago she was constantly going on about freeing them and trying to sell us all badges to promote that society to support the house-elfs that she had set up..."  
"Did she?" I had never heard anything about that.  
"Yes. It was... well... to be honest with you, we all had a good laugh about her."  
"Well... that's something Hermione would do. She hates injustice."  
Again Malfoy looked as if he was not saying something that he was thinking. I decided to speed things up a little.  
"You two don't get on, do you? I remember her telling me you hate her. Because our parents aren't wizards."  
"I don't HATE her", said Draco trying to cover his surprise at me addressing this openly, "I used to be really arrogant and I used to think I was better than muggleborns, but I was wrong. I see that now."  
Even I who had never met him before wasn't buying it.  
"Good", I said. "She also said you were supporting that Voldemort man."  
He flinched at the name.  
"I used to", he said then, "but I don't anymore."  
He gave me a long look. He was probably wondering why I was speaking so openly. I decided to try and make him believe I was just very naive and trusting.  
"I'm glad you don't anymore", I said, "because you're really nice. It would be sad to have to think of you as an enemy."  
I smiled at him and I knew that the sun which was setting now made my hair glow. He smiled back at me.  
"That girl back in Hogsmeade", I said, "is she your girlfriend?"  
"No."  
"But you have a girlfriend, don't you?"  
"No. What about you?"  
"I'm not seeing anybody."  
I stretched out my hand to him, offering him some blackberries. He looked at them for a moment, clearly not wanting to accept them from me and I wondered if this was because I was a muggle again.  
"What?" I said laughing. "Have a berry! Where do you think I've been?"  
He took a few berries and I was nearly convinced he wouldn't have them first because I was a muggle. How did he think to convince anyone he had really abandoned Voldemort if he was being so obvious?  
I pretended to have noticed nothing.  
We walked on and reached the lake. When I saw the biggest man emerge from the forest I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "Who the fuck is that?" and Draco burst out laughing.  
"Another line one would never hear your sister say!"  
I was actually embarrassed. I usually don't worry much about my language, but I do try not to swear to easily because I think it's not ladylike.  
It was nice to hear him laughing like that, but right after that I saw him give that huge man a look that I didn't like at all. Very condescending.  
"That's Hagrid", he said. "Gamekeeper. And a teacher." The way he said "teacher" made it obvious he didn't think much of him.  
"I think Hermione mentioned him."  
"She's friends with him."  
I realised I tended to forget who I was dealing with. Hemione had told me he was evil and I could tell he was lying to me, but still because he was so handsome it surprised me everytime he did or said something which wasn't nice.  
When we reached the castle I pretended to check if Hermione was back in the Gryffindor Common Room because I knew perfectly well she was still in Hogsmeade. And then Draco gave me a tour of the castle. It was crazy. It seemed to possess a million corridors with paintings that just never seemed to shut up. I got a shock when a ghost came gliding through a wall next to me and Draco found it very amusing when I told him that up to now I had never believed ghosts existed. I told him a few stories from my world to make him laugh and make him see what a wonderful person I was and that he absolutely wanted to get to know me better and spend more time with me. It was funny, after everything Hermione had told me I had expected some sort of blond Darth Vador without the mask and the wheezing. I was surprised at how normal he seemed, enjoying himself walking around with me. But when he led me into yet another corridor and I laughed and grabbed his hand, saying: "Just don't leave me alone here, Draco, because I'd have died from starvation before I found my way back into the Great Hall", I noticed him stiffening because of my touch. So I gambled on being straight forward again.  
"Listen Draco", I said letting go of his hand, "I'm really glad I asked you of all people how to get back to Hogwarts because I'm having a lot of fun with you, but this is really insulting. I've been noticing it all day. I heard your girl in Hogsmeade call Hermione a mudblood. You hesitated shaking my hand, you hesitated taking berries from my hand and you just flinched when I touched you. You actually think I'm filthy, don't you?"  
"No!" he said quickly, looking a bit surprised and shocked as well.  
"You do", I said and decided to get a bit angryer, "I really thought how nice this was, meeting you, walking around with you and laughing with you, but I'm not going to let you treat me like this! I'm not filthy! Excuse me? And don't lie to me, Draco, you did flinch when I touched you!"  
"I'm sorry", he said, "I was brought up like that. It's hard to just break a pattern at once, when I never even realised you have this pattern. I don't think you're filthy. Seriously."  
Now this sounded nearly convincing, I had to admit.  
"Then you better make sure you make an efford, because if you keep making me feel there was something wrong with me then I'm off."  
He stretched out his hand and grabbed mine. He held tight to it and gave me a smile. His hand was rather warm. And before I knew it I returned the smile, for the first time acting spontaneously with him.


End file.
